...Sony IDC had no learning curve. Just install, open an arw file, move the sliders and OUTPUT the jpeg. as you move the sliders, you see the result. You'll see the White Balance tab right away. Open it, select the radio button for Colour Temperature and move the slider back and forth. done.

Note that if you open one of your .arw files using Sony's Image Data Converter SR and tweak it as desired (WB, NR, exposure, sharpening, etc.) you can save those settings for reuse later (it uses xml files for that purpose and you can name them as desired).

Then, you can then batch process other photos you want to apply the same settings to from within the Sony's Image Data Lightbox SR by loading one of the saved xml files with the settings you want to use.

Make sure you're using a Thumbnail View when viewing a collection using Sony's Image Data Lightbox. Then, you can hold down the Ctrl Key while right clicking on images to mark them. Or, to mark a group of images for processing, you can press the Ctrl Key and Right click on the first image you want to mark in a set, then hold down the Ctrl and Shift keys and right click on the last image you want included in a set to easily mark an entire group of images.

Then, when you click on the Output button, you can either use the cameras settings for processing, or load processing settings from an XML file you've saved from within Sony's Image Data Converter SR.

See the software section of our NEX-5 review for screen captures showing batch processing settings being loaded (and you can click on a screen capture to see a larger version).

Look under the download section on this page for the latest version of the Sony Image Data Suite (the download includes Sony Image Data Converter and Lightbox). I use Sony Europe for Sony software updates, since they usually have the latest updates sooner than Sony's US sites (but, 3.2 should be the latest version on both right now).

I like the Tamron (SP 35-105mm f/2.8 AF lens). It's not quite as sharp as my Minolta 100mm f/2 at f/2.8. But, it's not bad for a zoom and gives you more framing flexibility. It's even better on a full frame model (A850, A900).

Here you go. Some of the shots from the Sony A850 Review Samples using that lens (just go there and click on a thumbnail to see the full size originals).

Sony A850, Tamron SP 35-105mm f/2.8 AF lens. Straight from the camera except for downsizing for the forums using the Lanczos algorithm with Irfanview and saved using 85% JPEG Quality.